3rd Time's The Charm

I finally remembered to take my camera with me to the DuPage Children's Museum today! Andrina and I have been there twice before, each time meeting up with Anne and Auntie April. Today Andrina and I went by ourselves but we met Auntie Doreen there who was eager to spend time with us and we enjoyed seeing her! Andrina especially loved playing with Auntie Doreen as you can see in some of the pictures.

Andrina loves going to the children's museum. Actually, being such a happy baby (oops, I mean toddler) overall, I'm not at all surprised how much she enjoys it there. Before we went, I was skeptical that it was worthwhile for her being that she is so young, but she just loves it. After the first time we went there, I decided that I would buy a family membership and take her there at least once a week. And so far, it is working out. The only thing that is not working out is going in the mornings. Andrina wakes up between 7 and 8 am, then takes a 2 hour long nap starting between 9 and 10 am, depending on when she woke up, I put her down for her morning nap 2 hours after she wakes up because that is all she can handle. Well, when we go in the mornings, she misses her 2-hour long morning nap that I, as a full-time presently stay-at-home mommy, really need. I love being able to take a shower, read, or go on my computer during that time. But when we go to the children's museum in the morning, Andrina misses her morning nap and then falls asleep immediately in the car on the way home (because she completely wears herself out there). And then she does not nap for the rest of the day after coming home from the children's museum. So, until she gives up her morning nap around 18 months or so, we are going to have to go to the children's museum after she wakes up from her first nap of the day and after her lunch. But we will still go, and this time frame will be better for her because she can also handle a longer period of being awake in the afternoons as opposed to the mornings. And she will also have had her morning nap, making it also less stressful on me so I'm not getting up an hour before she does so I'm all ready to go when she gets up and eats, hurrying to get out of the house. And I will have less mommy-guilt because she won't ruin her morning nap because of the outing!

Bad Auntie, Good Auntie

First, let me say that I "stole" this picture off of April's blog. It is from April's camera from our play date with the babes on Andrina's 8 month birthday two days ago. I didn't get any of Anne and Andrina facing the camera (bad Auntie). However, I did get about 3 to 5 minutes of video of our babies enjoying the swing together. Which I will burn a copy onto DVD for April too, preferably after Easter because I plan to bring the video camera to Easter dinner to get footage there too (good Auntie).

I have to say again that we had wonderful time! And Anne is starting to get over her shyness around me (does me bringing her presents almost every time I see her help???) We are going to HAVE to do this with the babes more often Auntie April!

Anne and Andrina

Can you tell who's the older cousin?

Another Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we all went to the Pumpkin Patch with Andrina, so she got to go twice this year. Here's some pictures:

Happy Fall!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch Kids

Andrina and I visited a pumpkin farm with Becca and Ryan today. Andrina was pretty tired, so she was not the happiest with taking pictures. But we didn't stay long, we stayed a few minutes to take some pictures and buy the babies their first pumpkins.

Andrina is tired, can you tell? It's really hard trying to get two babies to sit together for pictures!

Here's Andrina with her very own pumpkin.

Here Andrina is REALLY tired while Ryan is just happy and relaxed!

One last picture of the four of us before we had to leave.

Babies cannot handle long periods of being awake!

Next time we'll have to go earlier in the day.

Trip to the Zoo

For Andrina's first Labor Day, Tom and I packed her up for her first trip to the zoo. It was a perfect short outing for a couple with a very young baby. We visited a very small, not well known zoo. Definately not one of our area's major zoos. Andrina enjoyed the fresh air and Tom and I enjoyed seeing a few wolves and some other animals, as well as some mastadon fossils. It's hard to imagine that someday Andrina will be able to run around the zoo and actively enjoy the animals too. Here she is while we were enjoying the fossils, with an adorable amused expression on her face that I just have to share.

Little Baby Chickies

When I go to the Museum of Science and Industry, which is very rare, I have to go see the baby chickies and the egg hatchery. Ok, yes, I am a push-over for cute little animals. Well, now that I have a baby, I had to make sure that Andrina got to see the baby chickies too when we went to the museum today. So here she is, by the baby chickies. I think she actually saw them, but I guess I'll never really know for sure.

Tom and I originally went to the museum to see the CSI exhibit before it closed down on Labor Day (which is next week). We did get to see the exhibit but we could not really take it all in due to the crowds of people constantly in the way and blocking parts of it. It was also quite a drive out there, but all and all it was an enjoyable day and Andrina tolerated the whole trip very well. In fact, she seemed to sleep the entire time. It was amazing that she was actually awake long enough to "see" the baby chickies. It's difficult to imagine that in a few short years she'll really be able to enjoy them.